BALTIMORE — The Francis Scott Key Bridge has carried I-695 traffic over the Patapsco River and outer Baltimore Harbor for nearly five decades. On Tuesday morningit collapsed into the water below after a container ship slammed into one of its support columns.
The history of the bridge dates back to the 1960s when Maryland transportation officials began looking into a second harbor crossing to supplement the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel. Initially, they proposed another tunnel system. But after prices on bid proposals far exceeded what they estimated, they started plans for a four-lane bridge.
In 1971, the General Assembly approved those plans. Construction on the bridge began the following year, already years behind schedule and millions of dollars over budget.
A year before its completion, the bridge was named in honor of Francis Scott Key who wrote the Star-Spangle Banner in 1814 while watching the British naval bombardment of Fort McHenry. A buoy in the colors of the U.S. flag marks where Key's ship was during the bombardment, about 100 yards away from where the bridge now stands.
The Key Bridge carries more than 11 million vehicles each year.